1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly to a method for efficiently using a memory area in a mobile telecommunication phone.
2. Background of the Related Art
In a related art mobile communication terminal, when a user wants to save particular information, e.g., a telephone number, in a memory area of the terminal, the user is permitted to save only one telephone number for one person per index.
FIG. 1 is a structural diagram to illustrate a memory pattern for saving information to an index where the index accommodates only one storage space for a person.
A more advanced related art mobile phone was soon developed. This phone reserved more data storage space per index, so that a user was able to save several telephone numbers, fax numbers, or e-mail addresses for one person in a single index.
FIG. 2 is a structural diagram of a memory area to illustrate a pattern for saving information to an index where an index is assigned with a plurality of storage spaces for a person. Referring to FIG. 2, a single memory area is thus designated to save all personal information in one index.
For example, in index No. 1, the user can input personal information of an intended person, such as that person's name, office phone number, home phone number, cellular phone number, pager number, e-mail address, fax number, or birthday. In index No. 2, the user can input a second person's information in a similar way. That is, the user can input the second person's name, office phone number, home phone number, cellular phone number, pager number, e-mail address, fax number, or birthday. In this manner, personal information of additional persons may be saved in the other indexes.
The related art memory area structures and methods shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 have various problems. For example, these memories are operated within the limited memory capacity assigned to the mobile phone. Thus, if there are more than two kinds of personal information for a person, at least two indexes in the mobile phone are needed, which consequently makes it difficult for the user to effectively manage the data. Even if there is little information for a given person, a full memory area for an index is still occupied for that person. The remaining fields of the index are left unused, thereby wasting a lot of memory.
For example, if the user inputs only an office phone number and a home phone number of a desired person, and does not input any other information for that person, i.e., the cellular phone number, pager number, e-mail address, fax number, or birthday, the entire corresponding memory storage space is still allocated but remains mostly unused.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.